The First Holiday
by sassiest-angel-in-the-garrison
Summary: Dean is stuck at work, and Castiel wants to make their Christmas Eve an evening to remember...even if it means tempting fate.


The interior of this cozy, three-bedroom house was rife with holiday cheer. A wreath hung on the front door, and said wreath was decorated with red, plastic berries, and garnished with a red bow. There was a porcelain Santa on the end table in the living room, sitting in his sleigh with his loyal reindeer guiding it. For a nice, traditional touch, there was even mistletoe hanging above the threshold between the kitchen and the family room. None of this was as elegant as the seven-foot Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, wrapped with shining gold tinsel that stretched to the top, with red and silver ornaments hanging off of the open branches. Lights were also wrapped around the tree, giving the room an intimate glow. At the top, stood a glowing star, which is what stood out the most.

It was Christmas Eve, and Castiel was alone in the house. Dean was stuck at work, because of the massive amounts of last minute work on people's cars before they made their trips to wherever home was. Cas was laughing because of how frustrated Dean was, as he walked around the house that morning, muttering things like "who the hell gets their cars done on Christmas Eve?" and "I can't believe my boss is gonna make me work". Castiel would always assure him that one day, he would run the shop, and he would never have to worry about working on important holidays like this. This was going to be their first holiday together, and Dean wanted to spend it with Cas; not covered in grease.

Castiel, however, was determined to make it a good evening anyway. Sure, it wasn't Christmas day, but the look on Dean's face when his boss called him into work persuaded him to make this holiday a good one, despite the unexpected speed bump. He spent the next hour or so on the computer, looking up recipes for pies. Cas even sent him a discreet text (Dean had to teach him the ways of text messaging, and even then, he was still a bit slow at it) asking him what type of fruit he prefers when it comes to his pies. He figured adding a "just curious" to the end of the text would be discreet enough. Once the reply, "Uh, apple, I guess. Why?" came through, Cas intentionally ignored it, adding to the mystery, and headed out to the grocery store.

His smile was bright enough to light the whole store as he pushed through the aisles with his cart, inspecting the ingredients, as well as items for the next day's meal, before setting them gently into the cart. He wanted to handle everything delicately, in hopes to avoid an accident. The last thing he wanted was for his surprise to be ruined by failure.

After paying at the register,which took three swipes of the card, (two less than last time; he wasn't used to these things yet) Cas was headed home, and ready to make Dean a surprise he wouldn't forget. After setting the ingredients on the counter, he printed the recipe off, put on a dark blue apron (he had seen someone wear one while cooking on TV), and began his process.

"Dean is going to love this," he said with a bright smile, as he stirred the ingredients for the filling, and filled up the pie tin with the crust coating the sides and bottom. After laying the rest of the crust on top of the pie, he set the pie in the oven, smiling at his progress. He set a timer for fifteen minutes, since the recipe called for the temperature to be changed after that amount of time, and closed the oven. Figuring he deserved a break, he left the dishes soaking in the sink, and moved to the other room to relax and watch some Christmas movies.

The phone rang, startling him, because he thought his pie was done. After catching his breath, he answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"There's that voice I'd much rather be hearing right now," said Dean on the other side. "How's being by yourself right now? Everything all right?"

"Everything is great Dean," said Cas. "Just wishing you were here right now."

He sounded a bit forced, seeing as he didn't want his surprise to be spoiled.

"Believe me, Cas, I wish I was there too. Should I pick anything up for dinner on the way back? It's the least I can do since I was forced to ditch you today."

"Anything you—" The timer went off, interrupting Cas, and immediately mobilizing him to the kitchen.

"Anything I…?" said Dean with a laugh. "Everything okay over there?"

"Y-Yeah," Cas said, pulling the pie out of the oven before changing the temperature. "Sorry. I uh, dropped something."

"Okay then," said Dean, his voice filled with bewilderment. "I guess I'll just pick up a pizza before I come home. See you then. Don't miss me too much!"

"Bye, Dean," said Cas, and he hung up the phone. He set the pie back in after the oven adjusted to the new temperature, and he put the pie back.

He resumed his movie watching, waiting for his masterpiece to be finished. He found it hard to keep his eyes open, since he and Dean were up late figuring out what to cook for their guests on Christmas Day. Cas kept insisting that they should have started earlier, but Dean would always forget, or get caught up with work. Cas finally forced him to sit and help him look for recipes, and they stayed up until they agreed on everything.

He was in a deep sleep, which was intervened by a loud thump coming from the kitchen. He awoke with a jump, and rushed to the kitchen to see what it was. He threw the oven door open, and once he got a good look at what happened, his expression was covered with despair. Pie filling covered every inch of the oven, clinging to the walls and coating the grates. He immediately looked at the recipe to see what went wrong, and his head fell onto the counter.

"I forgot to put holes in it," he said, and then let out a loud groan. "And then it exploded!"

He looked back at the oven, and slowly took the damaged pie out from its messy ruins. He set it on the stove, staring at it with his lost puppy eyes, wondering how he could have been so stupid. He almost started to cry, but the front door swung open, and he immediately looked toward it.

"I'm back!" said Dean with joy as he headed for the kitchen. "And I have our greasy dinner for—"

He stopped when he saw the remains of what should be a pie. Cas looked at him with such fear in his eyes, one would think Dean's next move would be a fist to his face.

"What happened?" Dean asked, slowly setting the pizza box down, and moving toward the oven.

"I'm so sorry, Dean," Cas began, with a pleading voice. "I just wanted to make you a pie because you were so disappointed that your boss called you in to work, and I was doing a good job but I forgot to cut some holes for the air to escape, and then it exploded and now our oven is a mess."

Dean was inspecting the oven, trying to see exactly how much damage was done.

"I'm really, _really _sorry Dean. I just wanted today to be special and make you something you would enjoy, but it doesn't look like I can do that right."

Dean stood up, looked at Cas, and smiled.

"Come here, you," he said, pulling him in for a tight embrace. "Accidents happen, Cas. I'm not mad."

"Y-You're not?" he asked, confusion filling his expression. "But, I made the pie explode, and now the oven is a mess."

"All things that can be easily taken care of," said Dean. "Can't say we can fix the pie at all, but ovens can be cleaned. The fact that you even tried to do something this nice for me really warms my heart, Cas."

Cas blushed, and looked into Dean's eyes.

"Really?" he asked.

"Of course. Even if you blow up every pie you make for me, I'll still know that you tried, and I'll still love you for it."

He pressed his lips softly onto the angel's, and Castiel's blush grew bigger behind their locked lips. After their lips parted, Dean chuckled, and pushed his lover's hair back. He glanced at the pie, and Cas followed.

"What?" Cas asked.

"Do you think it's at least edible?" Dean asked.

Cas looked at the mangled pie, surprised that anyone could think it still looked edible. There was a small amount of filling lining the remaining crust, and, to Castiel's surprise, it still seemed moderately edible.

"I…don't see why not."

Dean took a fork from the drawer behind them, and pierced a piece of the crust with some filling on it. He took the bite, started chewing, and wore that smile that Cas was aiming to see from all of his efforts.

"It's delicious," said Dean. He even fed Cas a bite, and he agreed.

They spent the remainder of their evening on the couch watching Christmas movie marathons, eating pizza and the remains of what was once a pie. Cas asked him over and over if he was just lying about it to make him happy. Dean would just roll his eyes and tell him that it was the most delicious thing he's ever eaten. Cas finally stopped, finally reassured that he wasn't a complete loss of hope when it came to cooking. Because of all this, his night didn't turn out the way he planned; it turned out better.


End file.
